Hotline #904 - November 17, 1995

President Clinton signed the 1996 transportation appropriations bill on November 15. That will bring the Department of Transportation back up to normal work force. Most Federal Highway and many Federal Transit Administration work was never interrupted, because it depends on "contract authority," using money from the Highway Trust Fund.

Amtrak is running normally, as is Congress, so continue sending your messages of support for the Amtrak gas-tax half cent -- especially if you are represented on the house Ways and Means Committee. If you meet transit-oriented objections to the half cent, remind people about the transit-protection provision and the fact that transit would benefit from much of the resulting increases in Amtrak capital spending. Call us if you need help or urge the legislator's office to call us.

The conference report on the National Highway System bill at last was filed this week. General ISTEA flexibility for passenger trains -- the Roth-Biden amendment the Senate passed in June -- was not adopted. However, Senator Moynihan (D.-N.Y.) did get $26 million in Highway Trust Fund money for the Penn Station/Farley project, meaning that $77.6 million of the federal share of $100 million now has been committed. Part of the $26 million was unused money earmarked for the long-dead West Side Highway in Manhattan. The rest came from a 1991 earmark of Highway Trust Fund money for Amtrak's Hell Gate bridge project, which came in under budget.

The House approved a bill on November 15 eliminating the Interstate Commerce Commission. The bill would transfer the ICC's remaining functions to a three-member adjudication board within the DOT. The Senate has not yet passed such a bill. Funding for the ICC is already phased out in the transportation appropriations law.

The Skagit River in northwestern Washington flooded last week, damaging a Burlington Northern bridge between Mount Vernon and Burlington, blocking freight trains and Amtrak's Vancouver trains. Passengers are being bussed until service resumes tomorrow.

The Coast Starlight will run five times a week from January 9 to March 13. There will be no Los Angeles departures Sundays and Mondays; no Seattle departures Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Dining car service on the Desert Wind west of Salt Lake City will be restored tomorrow, after a two-month absence.

Amtrak's national timetable folders are being printed and should be available soon.

Next week is Thanksgiving, and Wednesday is the busiest day of travel for most transportation companies, including Amtrak. As always, if you are traveling, try to avoid Wednesday and Sunday. Amtrak system-wide ridership on those two days can increase from a normal of 60,000 to up to 90,000. Show up early at busy stations, especially if you need ticket or baggage service, and use round-trip tickets whenever possible. Amtrak will add 77 extra trains in the Northeast and 671 extra coach lines to existing trains, on a special timetable. Coaches will also be added to some trains on the Milwaukee, Detroit, and St. Louis lines. Extra trains and extra coaches will run in California and Washington.

Florida DOT is conducting public meetings on the five high-speed rail proposals. Four of those were this week -- Orlando, Miami, Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale -- and we're sorry we didn't get the information in time last week. The others are November 28 at the Belleview Resort Hotel in Clearwater, November 29 at the Tampa Convention Center, and November 30 at the Lakeland Convention Center. They all run from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.